


so far away, let me be close

by wolfchann



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Brief mentions of other characters - Freeform, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Shenanigans, Fluff, Haikyuu!! Manga Spoilers, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, M/M, Pining Idiots, msby in rio, very slight jealousy but not much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26606743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfchann/pseuds/wolfchann
Summary: Now, Atsumu has nothingagainstShouyou, at all. It’s the opposite, in fact. Atsumu is utterly head over heelsin lovewith Shouyou, and being forced to be his roommate for however long they’re in Rio? That’s God giving him karma and punishment for always being mean to Osamu, it seems.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 11
Kudos: 121
Collections: AtsuHina Exchange





	so far away, let me be close

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mortalatte](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mortalatte/gifts).



> some notes!
> 
> anything in « » and in italics is in portuguese.  
> anything in quotes (" ") and not italicized is in japanese.  
> anything in quotes (" ") and underlined is in english.
> 
> i ran into some bumps in the road while working on this exchange, and i May have missed the mark a little at the end, but i felt that this delivery was better suited than any closed ending that i could have produced. so i hope either way that you all like it! <3

Nerves have been coursing through Atsumu’s veins since the announcement of their exhibition match in Rio. Whether they’re _scared_ nerves or _excited_ nerves, Atsumu hasn’t really been able to tell. He’s been preparing himself for the match for a few months now, since it had been announced back in January, but no matter how many late night discussions he has with his brother, Atsumu can’t really shake the feeling of _nervous_ out of his system.

He learns that he’s not the only one who’s been nervous when they arrive at the airport on a late June night. Bokuto bounces in his seat, when he stands -- the man can’t sit still and the rest of the team knows that it’s his nerves getting to him. Though, with two calls to his friend, Kuroo, and his boyfriend, Akaashi, Bokuto’s nerves have left him and he’s excited to get on the plane already.

They arrive in Rio when it’s midday, but the jet lag hits the boys very hard. The MSBY team clamour into their hotel and split up into their respective rooms, pairing off with their assigned roommates. Here, we arrive at Atsumu’s first problem with Rio:

He’s rooming with Shouyou.

Now, Atsumu has nothing _against_ Shouyou, at all. It’s the opposite, in fact. Atsumu is utterly head over heels _in love_ with Shouyou, and being forced to be his roommate for however long they’re in Rio? That’s God giving him karma and punishment for always being mean to Osamu, it seems. ( _’m sorry, ‘samu!!_ he thinks, letting his duffel bag drop to the bed.) You’d think Atsumu would be utterly _ecstatic_ being able to share a room with the love of his life, but Atsumu digresses. He even tried to convince Bokuto to switch rooms with him! However, Bokuto seemed to be too much of a stickler for the rules and wouldn’t switch. So, here Atsumu is. In Rio. Rooming with the crush he’s had since _high school_.

Their first day in Rio is spent sleeping, until it’s about 6PM Rio time. They’re all still tired, since their flight was over a day long, but Shouyou seems to be buzzing the entire time, ready to show his team everything that Rio has to offer. He hasn’t been able to stop smiling since they’ve landed, even in his sleep. (Atsumu didn’t watch him or anything weird like that, but he did see him smiling when he had to get up in the middle of the evening to pee. Atsumu thought it was quite adorable.)

“I know the perfect place for us to eat our first meal in Rio! Trust me, you guys will really, _really_ love it!” Shouyou proclaims, making his way over to the main entrance of their hotel.

The rest of the team trusts Shouyou’s judgement entirely - after all, he did spend 2 years abroad in Rio, he must know some really amazing places to eat. Shouyou leads the team out of the hotel and right to their destination. Atsumu doesn’t know where they’re headed, but he enjoys the walk. The team is awestruck while Shouyou rambles, pointing at different things around them. The air is warm and humid around them, but it’s not a suffocating kind of heat; it’s pleasant, something Atsumu had only been a little worried about before.

The team’s attention is fixated mostly on their surroundings, not on the path they’re taking, and sometimes Shouyou has to call for the team’s attention to get them back on track. He laughs, though, and tells them all that he’s happy that they’re enjoying Rio already. The walk to the restaurant is about 30 minutes, and the moment they arrive in front of it --

« _Welcome back, Ninja Shouyou!!_ »

A booming shout, an array of several voices, stops the MSBY team in their tracks, startling most of them. Shouyou’s laughter catches Atsumu’s attention, his eyes following the red head’s movements as he goes barreling into the arms of a much larger man. Atsumu feels the back of his neck prickle a bit, but somehow his eyes catch the glimmering glint of a wedding ring on the man’s hand, and anything that was about to bubble up settles down immediately.

« _Hector! Nice! Pedro!_ » Shouyou is laughing as he says the names, exchanging hugs with all three people who are standing in front of the restaurant. « _You guys made it!_ »

Atsumu has absolutely _no_ idea what language Shouyou is speaking (okay, he has a small clue - he’s guessing it’s Portuguese, but he barely studied up on the language before they travelled), but the sound of it in Shouyou’s voice makes Atsumu’s legs start turning to jelly and he feels like he might go weak in the knees soon.

Shouyou excitedly talks to the small group, Portuguese coming with flawless ease now. After a minute or two, Shouyou turns from the Brazilians and gestures to the rest of the MSBY team, a bright smile on his face. “This is my team, the MSBY Black Jackals!”

As a habit and gesture of hello, the team bows to Shouyou’s friends, and Shouyou’s friends bow back - albeit a little awkwardly. The now mixed group end up piling into the restaurant together, gathered around a giant table. Shouyou mediates between the Jackals and his Brazilian friends with flawless accuracy, flying between three languages without missing a beat. There are times when he pauses, to think over what he wants to say, but he speaks to each person in the right language without a second thought. Atsumu is in complete awe, watching Shouyou, who’s sitting between Hector and Bokuto. He looks small compared to both of them, but it’s only because of Hector’s and Bokuto’s heights.

Hector and Shouyou order food for the entire group, making promises that everyone will find something that they’ll enjoy from the wide array of dishes that the Brazilian restaurant serves. Atsumu doesn’t really know what to expect; he did research on the different types of food that’s around Brazil, and particularly in Rio, but he wasn’t entirely sure if he’d actually _like_ anything or not, since he’d only read the ingredients involved with the dishes. (Most of the time, he didn’t know what the ingredients were and he had to ask Osamu to explain them to him. Osamu didn’t explain shit.)

While they wait for the food to arrive, stories about Shouyou’s time in Rio a year or so back start to surface. Shouyou seems shy when Hector and his wife, Nice, start to tease the poor young man about things he did while he was here.

« _Ah, I remember one night…_ » Nice begins, grinning like a madman, « _You were very drunk! It was after a good day of beach volleyball, and you had been drinking to celebrate-- ooh, you were all over a cute young man!_ » The woman laughs loudly, slapping Shouyou on the arm.

Shouyou grumbles, rubbing his arm and pretending like it hurt him - it obviously didn’t, but he won’t say anything else about the gesture. « _Nice-san! Please don’t tell stories like that!_ »

“What’s she talkin’ about, Hinata?” Adrian asks, and Shouyou laughs nervously. He rubs at his neck, waving his free hand.

“It’s nothing! She’s just talking about some of the nights I got drunk… it wasn’t very often, but she loves to remind me!”

“You’ve been drunk before?!” Bokuto gasps, his face twisting into a scandalized expression.

“The drinking age here is different than it is in Japan, Bokuto-san,” Sakusa interrupts, bringing his own drink to his lips and taking a sip. “I’m sure Shouyou drank very responsibly, though.”  
  
“I did!” Shouyou throws his arm up, before gesturing to Hector and Nice. “Hector and Nice were always with me and always took me back home to the apartment I shared with Pedro.”

Pedro nods solemnly, leaning back in his chair.

« _Oi! What’s with that reaction?!_ » Shouyou lifts up a fisted napkin and throws it at Pedro’s head, who merely dodges it with a small laugh.

« _Nothing! You were a weird drunk, Shouyou._ » Pedro answers.

Atsumu watches the exchange from over the rim of his own glass. They’re all drinking alcohol tonight, since none of them have to drive and they all know their way back to the hotel. They won’t get drunk, so that they won’t get lost on their way back, but Atsumu has about half a mind to get drunk, anyways. Anything to help with the pit he’s feeling in his stomach at the thought of Shouyou fooling around with other guys.

It’s not like Atsumu has any right to be so jealous of them. Shouyou’s always been an independent person, even when he was relying on Kageyama back in high school to be a great decoy, and Atsumu knows that Shouyou has a right to be with anyone he so rightfully chooses to be with… but it still doesn’t stop the green monster in his heart from poking its head out. Of course, Atsumu doesn’t dwell on it too much. Instead, he’s much more interested in the prospect of seeing Shouyou _drunk_. The team’s been a little tipsy before, but Shouyou’s never gotten drunk around them before.

“Hina, why’ve you never gotten drunk with us?” Atsumu teases, leaning into the edge of the table some as he sets his glass down.

Shouyou blinks at the question, before his face lights up and he smiles. “Because I like being at my best when I’m with you guys! Plus, I really am a silly drunk… I’d feel totally embarrassed if you guys ever saw me like that!”

Atsumu wants to refute his statement, but he’d likely end up making a fool of himself. Before he has time to, though, their food arrives within due time. The group immediately begins to chow down, a full course feast set upon the table for them to consume. It doesn’t take too long before all of the plates are nearly emptied, for the table to be full of empty glasses, and for alcohol to be in their systems. Only a few people aren’t actually drunk, being Pedro, Hector, Meian, Sakusa, and Shion, but the rest of them…

Currently, Atsumu can’t really keep his head on straight. He somehow ended up sitting next to Nice, instead of Sakusa and Adrian, and they’ve been leaning on each other for about five minutes now, laughing and speaking to each other in their native languages. Neither of them know what the other is saying, but it’s quite a sight for everyone else to be watching. Shouyou is even laughing along with them, understanding both sides of their conversation. His cheeks are pink and it’s obvious that he’s had a lot to drink, his words slurring together and the fact that he keeps speaking in three different languages in one sentence - it’s probably time for them to head back to their hotel, before they all pass out from drunkenness.

Meian, Sakusa, and Shion are sure to keep their team together as they exit the restaurant. Shouyou gives his friends drunken hugs, with Nice crying into his shoulder about him leaving again; she’s an emotionally dramatic drunk, if you will, and Hector has to carefully pry her off of Shouyou along with Pedro’s help. The two groups part ways, with the Jackals making their way back to their hotel, a stumbling mess full of loud, drunk young men.

***

Atsumu and Shouyou are ushered into their room by Shion, who lays them both on their respective beds. Like the caring person he is, Shion makes sure to leave them both glasses of water on the bedside table, with some painkillers. Shouyou’s a giggling mess; Atsumu can hear him trying to keep himself calm, clinging to Shion’s arm as he stands beside Shouyou’s bed.

“You really are a weird drunk, Hinata-kun.” Shion says, a fondness to his voice.

Shouyou bursts out laughing at the comment, and Shion finally pries the middle blocker off of his arm. With a pat to Atsumu’s hair, Shion leaves their room, shutting the door softly behind him. Atsumu can feel the alcohol working through his system, luring him into a more content state of being rather than a raging drunk like they had been moments before outside of their hotel room. His eyes are heavy and falling open and shut, his breathing slow and even, and he can feel sleep coming to him quickly.

(He just barely remembers that his clothes are still on, but it’s fine. He’ll just shower longer in the morning.)

Just as he’s about to fall asleep, there’s a sudden dip in the bed next to him, warmth covering the entire left side of his body, and Atsumu’s eyes snap open. His heart has basically stopped now, eyes gazing down towards the bright orange mass of Shouyou’s hair that’s just beneath his jaw. Atsumu’s fingers twitch, arms and hands frozen at his sides. Shouyou doesn’t do much. He stays in against Atsumu’s side, curled up on his own side. Shouyou’s leg shifts, moving up and resting on top of Atsumu’s own leg. He moves his arm and lays it atop Atsumu’s chest, palm down and resting there gently.

Atsumu feels like his skin is burning from the contact. (It’s likely the alcohol, but if he were sober, he’d probably feel like he was dying all the same.) Atsumu swallows deeply and Shouyou giggles from under his chin.

“Y’re so warm…” Shouyou mumbles, words slurred together a little. Atsumu somehow feels himself starting to sober up from the alcohol already, the fog in his head dissipating at Shouyou’s every word and movement.

“...yer really drunk, Shouyou.” Atsumu says, voice quiet and low. It’s shaking _just_ slightly, because Atsumu is honestly terrified right now.

“‘m okay,” Shouyou says, and Atsumu swears he can almost _feel_ the pout he has on now. “Wanted to be close to you.”

Atsumu’s throat tightens, mouth going dry. “Shou--”

“You were so far away at dinner,” Shouyou’s voice is quieter now, surprisingly steady for how he had just been slurring everything together, “I wanted to get closer… but everyone wanted to sit next to me, ‘specially Hector and Nice.”

The younger man pauses. The silence feels like torture to Atsumu, but he doesn’t dare speak up. He waits, and Shouyou eventually speaks up again.

“You were too far away,” he repeats, breath soft as he breathes out, “But now I can be as close to you as I want. And I wanna be close to you all the time…” Atsumu wonders vaguely if Shouyou is aware of what he’s saying at all, if he’s _really_ drunk or if he’s actually sober. If Shouyou is seriously feeling the same way that Atsumu feels every day of his life right now.

There’s silence again and, by the sound of his breathing, it seems like Shouyou’s fallen asleep. Atsumu finally lets himself breath and relax, closing his eyes again and tilting his head back against his pillow. He shifts carefully, trying to pull the blanket up over the two of them as he turns his body to face Shouyou’s. He doesn’t dare look down at him, though, not yet. He closes his eyes and leans down.

Atsumu kisses Shouyou’s forehead gently, keeping his lips there for a solid minute before he pulls away and allows himself to look down at Shouyou’s sleeping face.

“...g’night, Shouyou. We’ll talk tomorrow. Promise.” Atsumu whispers as he presses their foreheads together gently, eyes falling closed once more as he begins to fall asleep.

He doesn’t know if Shouyou will still be in his arms in the morning, but that doesn’t stop Atsumu from holding onto Shouyou as if his life depended on it.


End file.
